About Argyle Winery
Argyle Winery has spent nearly four decades establishing Oregon's credibility as a serious sparkling wine producer, a claim that would have seemed improbable when Dundee winemaker Rollin Soles began the project in 1987. The Willamette Valley's cool climate and extended growing season, which some producers see as a risk, are exactly what sparkling wine production requires: slow ripening, high natural acidity, and gradual flavor development.
The sparkling wines are made using the traditional Champagne method, secondary fermentation in bottle, extended time on the yeast lees (up to five years for the top bottlings), and hand-riddling before disgorgement. The Extended Tirage Brut, spending four years on the lees, shows complexity and autolytic character that rivals producers in Champagne at a fraction of the price.
Argyle also produces exceptional still wines that are sometimes overshadowed by the sparkling reputation. The Nuthouse Riesling, from a single high-elevation site, is one of Oregon's finest expressions of the variety. The Pinot Noir bottlings, particularly from the Spirithouse and Nuthouse sites, show the restraint and site-specificity that define the best Willamette Valley producers.
Argyle is also entering a new chapter. Founder Rollin Soles, who launched the winery in 1987 and built its sparkling program, retired in 2013 and was succeeded by his longtime assistant Nate Klostermann. In 2025, Kate Payne Brown became only Argyle's third head winemaker, working alongside viticulturist Erica Miller, who joined in 2021. Together they farm 374 acres, including the estate Lone Star and Spirit Hill vineyards in the Eola-Amity Hills and the historic Knudsen Vineyard in the Dundee Hills, held under a lease dating to Argyle's founding. All of the winery's vineyards are sustainably farmed by LIVE and farmed regeneratively, with a move toward no-till soils, cover crops, and organic inputs.
